Chapter 28
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I possessed the body of a homebody villainess locked away in a desolate tower. Chapter 28 I pushed through the endless gratitude of the mages and returned, but before I could even catch my breath, I found myself standing before the Grand Duke.
"That hammer."
After a long silence, those were the only words he uttered. I, who had been trembling with tension in the heavy atmosphere, flinched at the Grand Duke's voice.
"Y-yes...?"
"That ultra-lightweight partatium hammer."
"Y-yes, yes...."
This was torture. Though I couldn't detect any obvious anger in the Grand Duke's expression, my guilty conscience made it impossible to lift my head. After another brief silence, his voice came again.
"Liam, doesn't that seem familiar to you?"
Huh? Familiar?
"Yes, that's correct, Your Grace."
Liam, whom I found oddly irritating at that moment, chimed in agreeably, then cleared his throat and launched into a long, elaborate explanation.
"That hammer was gifted by Brusheta, a master craftsman of the Milref Kingdom, to commemorate the birthday of the previous Grand Duke. It is a special ultra-lightweight partatium hammer of the highest grade capable of shattering any magical restraint."
Wait. I had never considered such a development. I stared at Liam with a shocked expression, my mouth hanging open, but he continued speaking, oblivious to my desperate plea.
"It is a masterpiece of astronomical value—so precious that even master craftsmen would abandon their pride to possess it! In any case, that partatium hammer, which cannot be obtained anywhere else, is a precious heirloom left by the previous Grand Duke to our house."
"Yes, it does appear to be that very item."
So it was a keepsake of the previous Grand Duke? And... a masterpiece of astronomical value? Though I wished it weren't true, the conclusion was inescapable: I had used the Grand Duke's possession without permission. ...Liar. Please tell me you're lying. Bonita said it was just junk scattered in the warehouse. As Liam's explanation continued to pour forth like machine-gun fire, I swallowed my tears inwardly. 'W-what do I do!' Yet the more I faced reality, the colder my blood ran. Indeed, the Cletan Empire was notorious for its harsh punishments regarding theft compared to other nations. And here I was, having stolen a noble's possession and used it without authorization? In the worst case, I could face execution. Moreover, in this precarious situation, my life could hang by a thread at any moment! 'I must make amends.' My instinct as a homebody who desired a peaceful and quiet life was issuing a powerful warning.
"W-wait! I actually had something I wanted to tell Your Grace. I was going to mention it first, haha, hahahaha."
"...What is it?"
"So... I would like to transfer one of my wish tokens to Your Grace. Would that be acceptable!?"
In truth, this wasn't something that required much deliberation. Of course, the Magic Tower's "unconditional assistance" was valuable, and giving up one of my three wish tokens felt somewhat wasteful... But had this situation gone poorly, it would have been the Blaire Grand Duke who bore the full blame.
"Princess, the scope of assistance you can request of the Magic Tower through the title 'Ear of the Magic Tower' is quite vast. And yet you would do this?"
The Grand Duke seemed quite taken aback by my proposal. Of course he would be. I understood the value of this wish token perfectly well without him needing to explain it so kindly. 'But it's not worth more than my life, is it...?' I wanted to live.
"Yes! I have three of them, so wouldn't it be only right to give one to Your Highness?"
"Hmm."
"A-and I also wanted to express my gratitude for your generosity in overlooking my accidental use of Your Highness's belongings..."
In short, this was it. I'll give you a wish token! So please overlook my unauthorized use of your things! Whether he grasped the true meaning behind my words or not, he narrowed his eyes and looked me up and down before finally nodding.
"...The princess has a generous heart. I accept your gratitude."
"Ha ha, you're too kind. Then, um... may I go pack my things?"
"You may."
"Yes! Thank you!"
Before he could change his mind, I bowed deeply and bolted toward my chamber. Even if things seemed amicable now, the world of the powerful was one where everything could turn on a dime and tear you apart! I would eliminate every risk factor and live my life as the safest, most cautious person possible! So sacrificing one wish token was nothing at all. Absolutely nothing. * * * To cut to the chase, the manga was an absolute smashing success. After losing one privilege to the Grand Duke, I paid the Magic Tower a steep price for a small print run of "Safety Regulations for the Haunted Duke's Castle" Volume 1, and it sold out in less than a week—more than enough to cover the printing costs. I almost regretted limiting distribution to only the Blaire Grand Duke Territory and a few major bookstores in the Imperial Capital, in case the reception had been poor.
"Please, give our bookstore the opportunity to stock this 'manga'!"
The flood of letters was so overwhelming that the Grand Duke's Residence's mail box nearly burst, and some people even used spatial teleportation—a skill few could master—to visit in person and request distribution rights... Naturally, demand for the next volume only grew.
"W-we must work even harder!"
"Let's grind ourselves to dust!" The artists involved in manga production burned with passion and dedication, focusing intently on meeting deadlines. They even finished Volume 2 ahead of schedule and immediately plunged into production of Volume 3 without pause. In turn, the Grand Duke, who oversaw distribution, began carving up his already hectic days into even smaller fragments. And that... wasn't particularly different for me either.
"Ugh, uhhhhh..."
I woke up at dawn again today. The time was six in the morning. I rolled around trying to find a comfortable position, but the intense sunlight flooding through the windows illuminated the entire chamber too brightly for that to help.
"Sigh, please..."
It was fine that the Grand Duke had graciously freed me from the dark prison chamber (?) where I'd lived before, but the problem was that this new room was a prime location that caught the sun head-on every morning. And right now, it was the height of summer, when the days were longest. My nerves were fraying from the relentless forced awakenings. 'I want to sleep more, more...' I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to force myself back to sleep, but I couldn't overcome the relentless sunlight that kept pulling me back to consciousness, so I dragged myself upright.
"I... I didn't want to live like this."
The moment I opened my mouth, a lament spilled out unbidden. I'd thought things might get a little easier once the Magic Tower work ended, but by the time I stumbled back after a chaotic day, it was already four in the morning. And even then, I couldn't abandon my manga, so I'd force myself to read until dawn broke almost instantly. Considering that the room's nature made it impossible to fall asleep once the sun rose, I suspected my lifespan had been cut short by at least ten years recently. While I was clutching my head in anguish, the door opened and Bonita entered.
"Miss, you haven't been sleeping properly again, have you?"
The dark circles under her eyes hung down to her jaw—she was in the same predicament. It was the karmic consequence of becoming a full-time hot chocolate shuttle while collecting gossip from the painters who pulled all-nighters every night. Bonita set down a simple breakfast in front of me as I sat up zombie-like and crooked, then let out yawn after yawn, unable to fight off her drowsiness.
"Yeah, I'm dying..."
I pointed deliberately at the window. The summer morning sunlight pierced through the delicate lace-trimmed thin curtains in a way that was clearly visible to Bonita's eyes as well. She stared out at the bright window with tired eyes and murmured in a dejected tone.
"If only the curtains were a bit thicker, it might help."
"Hm?"
"Of course, it's good for the house to be bright, but for people in our... special circumstances, there's a need to keep things dark even during the day..."
"Ah."
As I listened to her trailing words, a sudden thought made me open my mouth. 'Blackout curtains!'
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